Nebraska Sweet Beets: A History of Sugar Valley

Sugar beets are as tenaciously rooted in Nebraska’s history as they are in its soil, especially in a seventy—mile stretch of the North Platte Valley that extended into eastern Wyoming. The state’s first processing facility opened in Grand Island in 1890, boasting the largest mill in the world. The height of the beet boom occurred in the early part of the twentieth century as Wyobraskan towns courted factory locations as feverishly as rival sugar companies competed for territory, and an irri...